Fuel and valve control system for internal combustion engines



Feb. 17, 1942. c. M. OERTEL 2,273,216

FUEL AND VALVE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed March 17, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTO Feb. 17, 1942. c. OERTEL FUEL AND VALVE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 17, 1941 i c J .H a. K 5% Y a VG INVENTOR ATTORNEYS larence Z1. OerZeZ,

a mW/%/%W@ %m7 4 a J .5 a a w M w NW wrmsss Patented Feb. 17, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FUEL AND VALVE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Clarence M. Oertel, Detroit, Mich. Application March 17, 1941, Serial No. 383,840

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in fuel and valve control systems for internal combustion engines and more particularly to engines employing liquid fuel such as gasoline.

An object of the invention is to provide a fuel and valve control system for internal combustion engines which is of generally improved design.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a fuel and valve control system which will effect substantial economy in fuel consumption.

A further object of the invention i to provide a fuel and valve control system of the aforesaid character which will improve the operating efficiency of an engine.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a fuel and valve control system of the above character which is relatively simple in construction.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description progresses.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout:

Figure 1 is a side elevational View showing the improved system in operative assembly with an internal combustion engine and illustrating parts in section,

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the engine partly broken away to illustrate the valve control mechanism associated with the engine cam shaft,

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through the same, and V Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred example of the invention, E generally designates an internal combustion engine of essentially conventional type having exhaust and intake manifolds M and I. The engine E is also equipped with conventional push rods R for the operation of the intake and exhaust valves of the engine cylinders, in the present instance four, operating in conjunction with a cam shaft S formed with fixed actuating cams C.

On a bracket attached to the front of the engine is mounted an air compressor [0 disposed for driving connection with the engine drive shaft and communicating, through a pipe II, with a compressed air storage tank l2 preferably equipped with a safety valve l3. A pipe l4 connects the outlet of the tank l2 with an inlet l5 of a rectangular-shaped fuel tank l6, this line being equipped with a control valve I1 and having a T fitting [8 providing connection with an air line l9.

This latter pipe line connects with the air inlet port of a valve casing 20 equipped with a reciprocatory valve plunger 2| having a pair of passages therethrough operable to assume registration with air inlet and outlet ports and with fuel inlet and outlet ports of the casing. This valve member is formed, at its outer end, with a reduced stem 22 projecting through one end of the casing and having an enlarged head 23 on its outer end. This control valve structure is preferably flanged for connection with the floor boards B of an automobile whereby the valve may be arranged with the headed stem projecting above the boards and operable by a hinged accelerator pedal P, a helical spring 24 being interposed between the head 23 and the floor boards B to yieldingly extend the valve so that its passages are out of registration with the air and fuel ports and tend to normally assume a cutoff position.

A fuel supply pipe 25 equipped with a control valve 26 preferably connects the fuel intake port of the valve casing 20 with the fuel tank IS. A fuel feed conduit 21 equipped with a control valve 28 connects with the fuel outlet port of the accelerator valve, the outer end of this conduit connecting with a fuel feed tube 29 of relatively small diameter. Mounted to enclose and spaced from the tube 29 is a concentrically arranged outer tube 30 having its inner end in communicative connection with an air conduit 3| connected to the air outlet port of the accelerator valve and equipped with a control valve 32.

The outer ends of the concentric tubes 29 and 3B connect with an elongated rectangularshaped chamber 33 formed on and projecting laterally of the intake manifold I and in communication therewith. The outer wall of the chamber 33 is formed with a flanged inlet 34 in which is mounted a disk valve 35 rotatable on pivot studs journaled on the flange. To the upper end of the valve pivot is secured one end of a horizontally disposed arm 36 arranged so that its outer end pivotally connects with the outer extremity of a rod 31. This rod is connected to a piston 38 slidingly mounted in a cylinder 39 open at one end and having a tube 40 connected with the opposite end. This tube provides connection between the cylinder 39 and the intake manifold, as shown to advantage at Figure 1, so that when a predetermined vacuum is created in the intake manifold the piston 38 is drawn toward the outer end of the cylinder to open the valve 35. A coil spring 4| in the cylinder 39 acts against the piston 38 t yieldingly move the same toward the open end of the cylinder and tends to retain the valve 35 in closed position, in opposition to the suction induced by the vacuum of the engine.

A branch conduit 42, equipped with a regulating valve 43, connecting with the fuel supply pipe 25 through a T fitting 4 connects with a relatively small fuel tube 45 mounted concentrically within a tube 46 connecting with a conduit 41 having a regulating valve ,48. The cone duit 47 is connected to the air line l9 by a 'i fitting 49.

The air conducting tube 39 connects with a nozzle fitting 59 mounted to extend through an inlet in one end wall of the chamber 33 formed with a nozzle El projecting into the chamber and preferably shaped at its inner end portion to form a contracted or Venturi discharge orifice 52. The discharge end 53 of the fuel supply tube 29 terminates within the medial portion of the nozzle fitting 59 at a point spaced inwardly from the contracted orifice 52, as clearly shown at Figure 2. The tube 46 is also connected with the inner end Wall of the chamber 33 by a nozzle fitting 54, which may correspond to the nozzle 50, and is arranged so that the inner tube 45 terminates therein in a manner similar to that of the end 53 of the tube 29.

The usual cam shaft of the engine is replaced by a shaft S which is advantageously composed of two aligned sections having their inner ends abutting and joined by studs 55 threaded radially through a connecting collar 56 and projecting into bores in the shaft sections, as best shown at Figure 4. The collar 56 is journaled in a bearing SFformed on a bracket attached to the engine block spaced inwardly from an outer wall section W thereof. The shaft sections S are splined or formed with a plurality of longitudinal grooves 58 designed to engage corresponding ribs formed longitudinally within the bores of a pair of complementary cam sleeves 59. Adjacent the outer end each sleeve 59 is formed with a valve actuating cam 56 corresponding to the fixed cam C for actuating the push rod of the intake valve while, adjacent the inner end, it is formed with a cam Bl corresponding to the fixed cam operable to actuate the push rods of the exhaust valves of the intake. The general exterior diameter of each sleeve 59 corresponds to the minimum diameter of the cams C on the cam shaft sections and a groove 62-, in the intermediate portion thereof, is designed to receive therein an approximately semicircular shifting yoke 63 formed with a pivot stud 64 engaging the eye at the outer end of a link 655. At its inner end portion each of the sleeves 59 is formed with an enlarged shoulder portion 66 having a uniform external diameter corresponding to the greatest diameter of each of the exhaust valve actuating cams.

The inner end of the link 65 for each cam sleeve is pivotally connected to the outer end portion of a rocker arm 61 fixed on the inner end of a pivot'pin 68 journaled horizontally in a bearing opening in the wall portion VJ of the engine. On the outer end of the'pivot 53 is secured the inner sOQketed end t9 of a lever 19, the outer end of which is pivotally connected to the outer extremity of a rod H. The inner end of this rod is joined to a piston 12 mounted to reciprocate within a cylinder E3 in which is also mounted a coil spring 74 yieldingly urging the piston toward the open end of the cylinder. To the head end of the cylinder is connected one end of a tube 75 which also makes connection with the intake manifold I of the engine. An auxiliary tube 16 connects with the head end of the cylinder '13, through its side wall, and extends to the dash of the wheel where it carries a control valve ll.

During operation of the engine, the compressor Ii), driven thereby, functions to compress air in the tank 12, said air being conducted from the air tank to the fuel tank Hi to generate a pressure in the latter. When the feed valve control means is operated, that is, when the accelerator pedal P is depressed to retract the valve 2|, the passages in the latter align with the air fuel ports to permit passage therethrough of selected quantities of air and fuel from the supply lines 19 and 25 respectively through the concentric tubes 29 and 30 to the nozzle 5|. The compressed air flowing through the external tube produces a syphonic action as it issues through the reduced discharge orifice 52 to effect efficient intermixture with the fuel fed through the center tube 29 under superatmospheric pressure so that a mixture of air and liquid fuel, such as gasoline, is sprayed into the chamber 33 in atomized condition from whence it is drawn into the cylinders of the engine. The auxiliary concentric fuel and air conducting tubes and 46 serve to furnish a fuel mixture sufiicient to provide an idling charge which may be accurately regulated to operate the engine under idling conditions through the medium of the valves 43 and 48. An auxiliary supply of air to the chamber is afforded through the automatic operation of the air intake valve 35 which is responsive to pressure variations in the engine cylinders so that, when a vacuum of predetermined degree is created in the cylinders, the valve 35 is opened to admit an additional quantity of air.

When the motor is operating under such con ditions as to create a relatively high vacuum in the cylinders, the piston 12 will react to slide toward the head end of the cylinder 13, against the expansive action of the spring 14, so as to swing the lever 19 and the pivot 59 to cause pre determined angular movement of the rocker arm 61. Such movement of the rocker arm results in sliding the respective cam sleeves 59 from their normal inward positions disposed adjacent the collar 55 for synchronous operation of the intake and exhaust valves of all of the cylinders, to outwardly directed positions away from the collar. When thus thrust outwardly on the cam shaft the sleeves 59 assume such positions, relative to the valve actuating plunger rods R, that the rods of the exhaust valves of certain cylinders of the engine attain contact with the circular shoulders 66 while the push rods of the intake valves of these cylinders assume positions in contact with the surfaces of the sleeves between the cams 59 and GI and conforming to the general uniform diameter of the sleeves. This adjustment of the sleeves provides a setting wherein the exhaust valves of the indicated cylinders will be maintained in open position while the intake valves remain closed, rendering these particular cylinders inactive as power units for driving action or compression braking. In

the assembly illustrated, wherein the engine is of the four-cylinder type, the two intermediate cylinders may advantageously constitute those to be cut out when desired. The operation of the automatic vacuum mechanism for thus setting the valves of selected cylinders of the engine may be selectively controlled through the operation of the valve 11 which, when closed, enables automatic operation by the engine vacuum but which, when opened, renders the sleeve actuating mechanism inoperative so as to retain all the cylinders drivably operative.

As will be apparent, this construction provides apparatus which will effect economy in fuel consumption and reduce heating of the motor through the efiicient atomization of the fuel and air by their intimate intermixture under superatmospheric pressure in the constricted nozzle as well as by the closing 01f of certain cylinders of the engine when the full power of the engine is not required.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes relative to the material, size, shape and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a system of the character described, the combination with an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, a rotary cam shaft, and valve actuating push rods operatively engaging the cam shaft, of a pair of cam sleeves slidably mounted on the cam shaft, mechanism for sliding the sleeves along the cam shaft to dispose cams thereon in normal operative position and in positions wherein the intake valves of predetermined cylinders of the engine will be retained in closed position and the exhaust valves of the said cylinders will be maintained in open position, and means connected with the intake manifold of the engine for automatically actuating the sleeves in accordance with the pressure in the cylinders of the engine.

2. In mechanism of the character described, the combination with an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, a rotary cam shaft, and valve actuating push rods operatively engaging the cam shaft, of a pair of cam sleeves slidably mounted on the cam shaft, a rocker arm pivotally supported adjacent the said shaft, a pair of links pivotally connecting the said rocker arm with the respective cam sleeves, and means connected with the intake manifold of the engine for automatically actuating the rocker arm to slide the sleeves along the cam shaft so as to dispose cams thereon in normal operative position and in positions wherein the intake valves of predetermined cylinders of the engine will be retained in closed position and the exhaust valves of the said cylinders will be maintained in open positions, in accordance with the pressure in the cylinders of the engine.

CLARENCE M. OERTEL. 

